Bud Starling
Colonel Bud Starling was an astronaut and the co-pilot USS Envoy space shuttle team, that travelled to Saturn in order to learn ways to repair Earth's atmosphere. Although they're successful in their mission, they find desolated Earth and come face to face with the culprit responsible with their home destruction, the Darkness and unwillingly, Bud becomes its host. Biography Envoy Mission In the year 1999, the crew of United States Space shuttle Envoy lifted off from Cape Hope, Florida. Their goal was to study atmospheric conditions of Saturn - the neighboring giant with the ability to annually repair its own ozone layer. For the people of the Earth were now confronted with the reality of extinction. Leading the crew was Lt. Colonel Samson Cord. A co-pilot on nearly a dozen other space flights, this was his first assignment as space crew commander. The instigator of the flight, Ted Hyatt, a brilliant cryogenicist, whose hypothesis started the last ditch effort to save Earth from itself. Nora Case, the shuttle's only engineer and the builder of the Envoy shuttle. Andy Cohen, a practical scientist, whose mission was to make Ted's theory into reality. And finally, Starling as the co-pilot of the Envoy. Despite all the odds, after ten years of researching, the Envoy was successful with their mission and managed to unlock the secret of atmospheric restoration. As they get closer to home, Cord noticed that he can't contact Mission Control. Hyatt then stares out of the port window and is horrified by what he sees. A silence then gripped each member of the crew as they looked upon the barren and destroyed planet they had sacrificed ten years of their lives in order to save it. The crew then turn to Cord for answers as to what they're gonna do now, but the commander stays silent. As Hyatt and Case begin to argue with one another, Cord silences them both, refusing to let his crew fight among each other as he suspects, that's what brought Earth's end. Cohen then contacts Cord, informing him that he found a place to land. Although Case doesn't see any point in doing this, Cohen argues, that if they don't land soon, Envoy will crash. And as the last of their kind, they have responsibility to carry on. No ones argues with his arguments and Starling pilots the shuttle towards a ten mile long by ten mile wide chunk of Earth's debris in orbit around the Moon. Suddenly, Case shouts as she notices shadows trying to envelope the shuttle. Cord orders to pull up, but its too late and the shuttle is swallowed by the darkness. Finding Paradise Starling questions as to what happened, but no one answers, as if all the crew when faced with the unexplainable event, tried to convince themselves that nothing has happened. Hyatt then informs the crew, that they're landing, leaving Case clueless as to how is that possible. Then, the Envoy caught death grip of a tractor beam of some sort. Cord is confused to see an intact building, right in front of them. The sign on the front of the building said "Geodesic Bio-Sphere, Los Alamos, California". After much debate, Cord was the first member of the crew to venture forth, knowing fully that this was a trap. Once Cord navigated the airlock, he bade the others to join him. Everyone except Hyatt, joins Cord, deciding to stay in the shuttle in case they need to make a quick getaway. Once the four astronauts were inside, the airlock closed automatically, sealing them in. Cord tries to contact, whoever was in charge of this bio-sphere, through communications pad on the wall, but no one answers. The entrance to the dome proceeds to open, flooding the compartment with sunlight, much to everyone's surprise. Inside they find a tropical paradise. After checking his readings, Cohen confirms that the area can sustain life, much to the suspicion of Cord. As they take-off their helmets, Case is touched by the feeling of sunlight touching her face. Cord questions as to how is this possible as they're in the shadow of the moon. Meanwhile, Starling just observes, choosing not to say a word. Undaunted, Case begins taking water samples. With each new reading, each new finding, it was becoming clearer that every aspect of this manufactured environment was almost too perfect. Standing together a moment, Cord asked Starling for his opinion on what was happening. Starling gets philosophical, telling Cord that in space you need to accept that there are just some things a body's got no control over. After hearing his words, Cord didn't feel particularly inspired. He then tells Cohen to check in with Hyatt, in case this Heaven turns out to be living Hell. Cohen contacts Hyatt, asking if he's still there. Hyatt confirms he's still in the shuttle and cracks a joke. In reality a Darkling mimics Hyatt's voice, while holding his decapitated head. Death in Paradise Cord then hears a scream and proceeds to dash into their direction with Starling joining him soon after. As they searched along the lake's waterfront, they found "BOO" on the sand, spelled out of human bones. Before Cord can tell if the bones belong to Cohen or Case, he notices a swirl of blood making its way up from the bottom of the lake. Starling tries to stop Cord, but the commanding officer doesn't listen and throws himself into the water. When he reaches the bottom of the lake, Cord finds dead Case, tied up to a cross. By the time he came back to the surface, Cord had already figured it out, that he was the only left alive and who was responsible for his crew deaths. As he turns to Starling, which know sported Darkness armor and was surrounded by Darklings, Cord asks him as to why he did all of this. Starling doesn't answer and sends his Darkling down his throat, killing him in the process. Soon after, the Darkness realized Bud's body to be too weak for it and started to seek for a replacement host, which resulted in the astronauts death. Powers & Abilities Powers * Darkness: As the host of the Darkness, Bud could create nearly anything he wanted out of the darkness and enveloped in Darkness armor. ** Darkness Armor: Bud could envelope in mystical armor, made out of the Darkness, which enhanced both his strength and durability. ** Darkling Conjuration: Bud could create numerous Darklings to do his bidding. He primary used this ability to kill off all of his teammates and destroy their shuttle. ** Construct Conjuration: Under guidance of the Darkness, Bud could create habitable places in space, full of oxygen and water. He even was able to simulate light. Abilities * Expert Pilot: Bud had logged more hours in space than any other living human being to date. He also been in command of each space mission he ever took, except for Envoy. Because of his expertise in the field, Bud was pulled out of retirement to serve as a co-pilot of the Envoy. Gallery Infinity16.JPG|Bud with his crew, seeing desolated Earth. Infinity19.JPG|Bud in bio-sphere with his teammates. Infinity23.JPG|Bud and Samson coming across "BOO" arranged from bones. Category:Comics Characters Category:One-Shot Characters Category:Comic Males Category:Human Category:Darkness Host Category:Supernatural Category:Comic Deceased